Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, spoke Wednesday at the Pentagon, four stars on each shoulder, his chest bedecked with medals. Unlike Allen, many decorated U.S. military veterans left the streets of Chicago after the NATO summit without their medals.

By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan. Veterans of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are now challenging the occupation of Chicago. This week, NATO is holding the largest meeting in its 63-year history there. Protests and rallies will confront the two-day summit, facing off against a massive armed police and military presence.

Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born January 15th, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign...

NATO has admitted for the first time Libyan civilians were killed and injured during its seven-month bombing campaign that led to the ouster and death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The acknowledgment came after a New York Times investigation revealed at least 40 civilians, and perhaps more than 70, were killed by NATO air strikes, including at least 29 women or children. Others were killed when NATO warplanes bombed ambulance crews and...

As the U.S. military leaves Iraq, the New York Times has recovered hundreds of pages of documents detailing internal interrogations of U.S. marines over the 2005 Haditha massacre of Iraqi civilians. The documents, many marked "secret," were found among scores of other classified material at a junkyard outside Baghdad as an attendant used them as fuel to cook his dinner. The documents reveal testimony of marines describing killing...

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Iraq for an unannounced visit to mark the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of the year. Shi’ites supporting Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held an anti-U.S. protest in Basra to oppose Biden’s visit. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that numerous investment bankers are arriving in Iraq to secure potentially lucrative reconstruction and oil deals even though security remains a...

Today, a Democracy Now! special with legendary independent filmmaker and author, John Sayles. Over the past three decades, he has directed 17 feature films, including "Return of the Secaucus Seven," "Matewan," "Lone Star," and "Eight Men Out." He has often used his films to tackle pressing political issues, as well as themes of race, class, labor and sexuality. His latest film, "Amigo," which...

A new series on PBS examines the impact of conflict on women around the world. "Women, War and Peace" looks at war zones from Bosnia to Colombia to Afghanistan and beyond. The most recent episode to air, called "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," focused on the story of Liberian women who took on the warlords and the regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a bloody civil war. The documentary features Leymah Gbowee, one...

Nearly 1,800 U.S. military members have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began there 10 years ago — the longest war in U.S. history. A new report examines these deaths, based on information drawn from obituaries and tribute pages for all 1,446 U.S. military casualties since the war began in October 2001 until December 2010. We speak with the lead author of "American Military Deaths in Afghanistan, and the Communities from which...

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